. >> mr. romney has diminishing opportunities to turn this race around. is there greater importance on the first debate thanks say, the second and third. does he have to get off on a really strong footing here? >> i expect more people will watch the first debate than the second or third, unless there's some great inflection point in the first debate that draws people's attentions to the second and third debate. the challenge for mitt romney going into this debate is not necessarily to get a hit in on barack obama, but better to communicate with the public why he's best positioned to help them. i think he's had some trouble with that throughout the campaign. i think the video that came out with him talking about 47% of the people being somewhat dependent upon the government, i think that hurt his ability to connect and say to folks i want to be president for all of america. i think he's got an opportunity in this first debate to communicate directly with the public. i won't give him advice, but i would just say i think that's a challenge for him right now.